138 CIVIL HISTORY AND 



month, and their dress is as irregular as that of 

 the cavalry. The greater number wear nothing but 

 a piece of short linen around their loins, and over 

 that is a girdle in which their curved dagger is fixed. 

 Their heads are covered with a kerchief or a cap of 

 blue linen ; and their hair, which is long, is knotted 

 or folded up into a kind of bag. A buckler, sabre, 

 and lance, are their ordinary arms ; and they are 

 trained in the use of musketry. They have a singu- 

 lar method of displaying their courage and fidelity in 

 battle, resembling that of the soldurii among the Ro- 

 mans. A soldier willing to evince his devoted attach- 

 ment to his chief binds up his leg to his thigh, and 

 continues to fight until the enemy are routed, or 

 himself cut to pieces. The marine of Yemen is on a 

 very limited scale, a naval force being unnecessary, 

 as there is little to dread from enemies or corsairs. 



Sanaa, the capital of the imam, stands at the foot 

 of Mount Nikkum. Abulfeda describes it as being 

 the largest city in Yemen, and resembling Damascus 

 for the multitude of its waters and orchards; but the 

 wealth and populousness which it enjoyed under the 

 Hamyarite kings no longer exist. Niebuhr, who re- 

 sided in it for a short time, says the circumference 

 is not more than an hour's walk ; and the inhabi- 

 tants are not so numerous as this extent might 

 lead us to suppose, a considerable part of the space 

 being occupied with gardens. The walls are con- 

 structed of earth, faced with unburnt brick, and 

 surmounted by a great many small turrets ; and if 

 we can believe the report of the French travellers who 

 visited Yemen in 1712, their breadth is sufficient to 

 admit of driving eight horses abreast.* It has seven 



* Voyage de 1'Arabie Heureuse. 



